The hacking of new and old cell phones is by no means a rare occurrence, according to security experts in Canada. The hacking of used cell phones by members of Rupert Murdoch’s News International organization has become a major scandal in the last couple of months, but security experts say that such hacking has become a fairly common occurrence, with everyone from parents to identity thieves hacking into cell phones. Cell phones can also be hacked into for various other reasons, such as spying on business rivals or even just to use someone else’s account for an expensive call.
Ryan Purita, who works as an IT security expert for Sherlock Forensics, which is based in the Canadian city of Vancouver, says that this sort of thing may have only recently hit the headlines all over the globe, but has in fact been going on for years. “Do criminals know that this exists? You better believe it,” Purita notes. “This has been going on for ten years. This is nothing new.” One of the most common hacks is to use a security ID in order to pose as someone else, usually to get access to something that would normally be denied to the hacker in question. This is also commonly used not just by criminals but by loan sharks, collection agents, and bail bondsmen; to trick people into answering calls they would otherwise avoid.